


STILL IN TIME

by Moon_omens



Category: EXO, Z.Tao (Musician)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, I don’t know what to write now, Its my first time so please bear with me, M/M, Romance, SeTao, TaoHun - Freeform, Taohun yayy, bittersweet maybe, taohun forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:15:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27155794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_omens/pseuds/Moon_omens
Summary: Tao and Sehun realise they’re still in time.But Will they act upon their feelings??
Relationships: Tao/Sehun, Ztao/Ohsehun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	STILL IN TIME

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.I wrote this fic in a whim because I am a taohun sucker.I’ve never wrote anything in my life except homework so I hope you guys will like this.Feel free to criticise or encourage me and if you love it I’d appreciate your kind words..so let’s go

The air felt thick around Tao’s room as he was shuffling right and left.It had been a long week and he was tired but the more he tried to sleep the more woke he felt.He was in a trance of his own thoughts, thoughts he tried to ignore but never succeeded.Then his phone chimed.

Breaking out from his trance he makes a grumpy "ughh” sound and stretches out to reach his phone lying on the nightstand.The text was from an unknown number, ruffling his hair and a bit agitated he opens the text.What came next was never, in his wildest imagination he thought would happen.Okay he imagined it millions of times but when it was actually happening he just froze ,eyes wide open staring at his phone as he felt his chest get heavy, he had forgotten to breathe.The text that just turned his world upside down had two words “I’m here”, with no indication of who, where or when but tao knew too well, too well for his own good.He had no doubt what that text meant but still, it felt unreal.His mind completely blank, an itch in his hands, he wants to reply,but what??what would he say?He just throws his phone aside flipping the screen down as if it would just disappear if he didn’t see it.Tao just lies down staring at the empty ceiling, flashes of memories passing before his eyes. A beautiful smile from someone too precious to him, how his lips curled and eyes formed tiny crescents, how his high pitched laughter was so ridiculous but it always made tao smile affectionately.

It had been five minutes since he received the text but somehow Tao felt like it’s been hours ,then suddenly he just stands up, grabs his phone and keys as he rushes towards the door, putting his slippers or whatever he can find in front him before sending a reply “on my way.” It was Sehun, his sehun, only he had the power to make tao feel as if his world was crumbling in the middle of the night.As he drives out, tao curses himself. Dumbass you just wasted five minutes thinking you should or shouldn’t.

It had been years since Tao and sehun had been in contact.When Tao decided to leave SM, they were on the phone for hours but barely speaking.Sehun could hear Tao sobbing and whispering “I am sorry hun-ah” under his breath thousands of times and sehun mumbling softly, "I know, pleaseee” everytime tao apologised.Sehun was not okay, his own sobs not hidden from Tao, but he understood.Sehun understood why tao had to leave, even if it meant his heart broken to million pieces, even if it meant he wouldn’t see Tao again, he wouldn’t be able cuddle and fall asleep listening to tao’s soft breath against his own skin.Things would never be the same.They were each other’s rock, always leaning on eachother through thick and thin, one of the reasons why sehun really understood Tao’s decision.With heavy hearts and broken tears they had decided to be apart, to move on with their lives.They knew it wouldnt be easy for both of them, but life doesn’t stop for anyone, does it??They had an image to protect, rules to follow, so they had said their last goodbyes, or so they thought until now.

Tao arrives where “here” meant, the beach in Qingdao, where they had spent Chinese New Years together, when Sehun had come to visit tao in China.It was years ago, but whenever Tao thinks about it, he remembers like it was yesterday, how his heart felt like it would explode from beating too fast when he was waiting for sehun in the airport, how he couldn’t control grinning ear to ear when he finally saw confused sehun coming through the crowd, how he held sehun’s hand and led him while the other was blushing the whole time.Dismissing himself from these thoughts, Tao parks his car and starts walking towards the beach, thinking about the time when sehun walked alongside in his arms giggling and amused at the view before them.This place was too special for Tao, he would always come here when his thoughts got too clouded, when things got so heavy, to the point where he felt like giving everything up.Here in this place he became calm.

The night was silent ,the beach empty, Tao can just hear the sounds of ocean waves splashing against the rocks as he kept walking and then, Tao freezes for the second time that night, tears instantly forming in his eyes when he sees sehun, sitting on the rocks, staring at the vast ocean before him.It was the same spot where they had taken the picture, making a heart shape with their arms.Tao takes a step back ,his heart feeling like it will pop out of his chest, his palms sweating even under the cool breeze.Nervous and unsure ,he just stands there watching sehun’s back.Sehun had grown he knew, he would often go through his Instagram, but seeing him in front of his eyes was too unreal, maybe this was all a dream he thinks.He just wants to run towards sehun and hug him, lifting the other in his arms like he used to, but his legs wouldn’t agree, they just froze in the sand.

Sehun shifts a little, looking a bit towards his right.Tao can now see sehun’s face from the side.He feels a pang in his chest as he sees sehun’s pale face shining in the moonlight, so beautiful and familiar, just like home.He used to cup those soft cheeks in his palms, used to leave trails of kisses all over the face he was seeing before him, biting those soft lips ,nuzzling that little nose and purring sweet nothings into those ears while ruffling through sehun’s soft hair..It was all so familiar but here he was after what felt like an eternity, just standing behind him, too coward to approach when it was sehun who had the courage to text him.Tao finally takes a long deep breath and wipes his tears that fell without him realising and starts walking towards sehun.

“It’s still the same,isn’t it??” Tao says sitting right beside sehun.

Sehun was in his own thoughts, nervous about the decision he made when he decided to text tao.Sehun travelled to China a lot during those years for their concerts and he always felt restless and uneasy.It always bothered sehun to know that he was in the same country as tao and still he was not able to see the other, but it was nothing compared to what he felt this time around.Maybe all those years apart had taken a toll on him, he couldn’t focus on anything except tao.His mind always wandering during performances, eyes always searching for tao hoping he would suddenly appear when they went sightseeing during their breaks, praying tao would just call him.He couldnt fight back the urge to see tao or simply he didn’t want to stop those urges this time.It was too much for sehun when he finally decided he needed to see tao.Just once he kept thinking.He was not sure if tao would be busy or already asleep, if tao would know it was sehun with that ambiguous text or he would even care even if he knew.There were thousands of possibilities running through his mind but sehun didn’t care, after all, he was already sitting on the beach.  
So why not?

“Huh?? sehun managed to blurt out, startled by tao sitting right beside him.

"Umm hi....it’s me...” tao gulps, seeing sehun right before his eyes, just few inches away from him ,he fights the urge to just pull him in for a kiss.Sehun is still so beautiful.

“Uh..yeah..hi...I was just....startled a bit”, sehun says looking at Tao who was grinning at him.

There’s a twitch in sehun’s heart ,warmth swelling in his gut as he fights back his own urges to pull tao for a hug.Fuck, how he just wants to touch him.can he do that??just pull him close into a hug and never let him go?

“After all I called you here” he mumbles slowly.

Tao doesnt know how to respond to that.He wants to say he is really glad that he did, that he was a coward for not texting or calling him when he knew EXO was performing in China all those years.But all tao manages to say was “hmm” in reply.Bobbing his head softly.

Their eye contact had been short, neither of them dared to look into each other’s eyes as if they knew what would come next..Both of them staring at the ocean before them, in sort of a trance, silence between them mixed with the sounds of the waves.

“It’s still the same....yes”, sehun says breaking the silence, remembering the first thing tao said when he sat down.Do I have to do all the work here??

“Still so beautiful!!” tao says softly, leaning back a little, hands resting on the rocks as he glances towards sehun.

Sehun just knew, in that little corner of his heart that tao might not be talking about the beach or the ocean.There was something in Tao’s voice when he said that.Sehun knew tao too well and a little smile formed in his lips.

Tao still looking at sehun, who was smiling at his words..Yes that’s the little crescents I’ve been dying to see.

Silence had fallen between them again.Both of them just staring at the horizon, feeling the cool breeze.So close yet so far!!

“So....how come you’re here, in the middle of the night??” Tao finally asks, realising maybe it was his turn to break the silence.

“Um...I...we have a performance here tomorrow..

I couldn’t sleep and uh.....next thing..next thing I know I am here.” 

Sehun was trying to sound as if it was the most normal thing in the world to roam around that specific beach in the middle of the night.Carefully leaving the part about him texting tao.He was terrified of the answer if tao asked why.

Sehun was not completely lying though.They had a performance tomorrow and he couldnt sleep.He just held back the reason for his sleepless night.He couldn’t even function well because he was missing tao too much, he felt like he was going crazy.Now when he was sitting besides tao, how he still felt like his heart was being torn apart.But He just couldn’t say that to Tao, could he?

“Oh.....I see...”, tao says, lazily running his fingers through his hair.

Maybe he was expecting a different answer.Maybe all those things that sehun was thinking was what tao wanted to hear.His own mind filled with millions of questions??Why??Why now after all these years??Tao always knew whenever Sehun was in China but he never received any text ??Tao knew the many chances he had in those years where he could have just called sehun but he never acted upon those so it wouldn’t be fair to just blame sehun.Still, all he could think was why???why now??

“Why now??”, Tao regrets as soon as he blurts out.His hands now turned into a fist as he is desperately praying for sehun to say something.

What sehun dreaded all along had just happened.His heart suddenly sinks down and pressure builds around his chest, he couldn’t breathe.Sehun thinks back to all those times when he would clutch his phone close to his heart, wanting to call tao but always stopping and crying himself to sleep.How he had to pretend and smile like he was not dying inside.How he had been putting up a facade because he knew he couldn’t be selfish, he couldn’t throw away everything and just think about his happiness.

In sehun’s mind, tao had just asked “why now” as if tao was blaming sehun for not calling him all those years.As if it was easy for him to stay apart.Maybe tao has moved on,maybe he was wrong to think it would affect tao as much as it affected him.After all, they had said their last goodbyes, after all, they had promised to let each other move on, to go on with their lives.Sehun knows he shouldn’t be mad at Tao for moving on just because he couldn’t, but still, he feels broken, his heart aching like it was pierced with thousands of swords at once.Sehun was in the verge of crying ,he had been ever since he stepped foot in that beach.But he was not willing to let Tao know how he was spiraling inside.It doesn’t matter to Tao, sehun kept repeating in his head.

“I- sorry... this was a mistake..I shouldnt have texted you ..m sorry..I need to go.” Sehun blurts out in one breath, his lips trembling, hands shaking, eyes blurry with tears, not being able to look Tao in the eyes, he just stands up and starts walking away from tao.

Tao couldn’t wrap his mind around what had just happened, but sehun was was walking away from him.”No...wait” Tao stands up abruptly and runs after sehun.Tao just holds sehun by his waist, pulling him swiftly into his own body.His both arms wrapped so tightly around sehun’s thin waist, as if sehun would disappear into thin air if he loosened his grip even a little ..He was not ready to let sehun walk away.How could he??It was his sehun, trembling and trying to walk away thinking tao didn’t care.

“You’re a fool”, tao purrs softy into sehun’s ears, kissing the nape of his neck.Taking in the warmth of sehun’s bare skin.

“And sometimes....so dumb” Tao grinning softly and burying himself into sehun’s neck.

For a second, Sehun wanted to fight back , tao had just called him a fool and a dumb in the same sentence but he was vulnerable now wrapped in the other’s arm and he could feel Tao’s tears on the back of his neck.He decides he’ll let go, just this once.He tilts his head back to meet Tao’s head resting on his neck.Sehun closes his eyes and finally lets his own tears fall, a little smile curling up in his lips.He let’s out a sigh of relief, like he had stopped breathing a long time ago and now, he could finally breathe again.He sinks in Tao’s warmth as if he had been cold all these years.

This felt like home,it just felt right, sehun wrapped around Tao’s arms, their bodies pressed together, breathing together.Tao would always hug sehun , it never mattered to him where they were ,behind closed doors, on the stage in front of thousands of fans, or in ISAC when even their manager tried to separate them but failed miserably, they always used to laugh at that particular incident..Tao was always very affectionate pulling sehun into hugs and kisses and he knew sehun loved it as much as he did.

“Look at me.....” Tao says softy, turning Sehun around so that they come face to face.Sehun was still sobbing looking down at his feet, shaking his head side to side like a little baby..Tao wipes sehun’s tears, hands softly caressing his cheeks along his jawline and slowly pulls sehun’s chin up.Their eyes finally meet.

“I just want to see you...hun-ah please”Tao almost pleads smiling softly, finally getting to see his hun-ah after..He couldn’t remember how many years.

“hun-ah”,was all sehun needed to hear...It was the nickname tao had given him and only tao called him hun-ah.Tao’s voice was like honey to his ears.And when their eyes finally meet, sehun knows, he knows how tao feels.It had not been easy for either of them.

Sehun just melts in Tao’s arms and starts crying...No more hiding his tears, no more pretending to be okay, no more fighting back what he truly wants to say.

“I missed you..

I missed you so much it hurt..

I miss you so much I cannot focus— on anything 

All I could think about was you..

It was so lonely ...no one would understand me

Everyone said it would be okay...but it was never......it never became okay 

Im sorry...

I just had to meet you..just once...

I tried to walk away..

i m so sorry tao..

I miss you.....”

He lets out all those emotions he dumped inside him for so long.All those painful nights when he cried alone, all those times when he had to compose himself while he was breaking apart, when he felt he was alone, walls closing on him, there was no one who could really understand how he felt.But he has tao in his arms now, he feels he could let go and he does, clutching hard on Tao’s back, sehun cries his heart out.

I miss you, as mush as tao wanted to hear those words all along, but seeing sehun cry like this in his arms, Tao’s heart breaks.He feels an excruciating pain coursing through his body..He had never seen sehun cry so much, he just couldn’t bear to see it and tao himself bursts into crying, holding sehun close, patting his head and stroking sehun’s back.

“Sssshhhh...i am sorry..

I’m sorry I let this go on for too long..

It’s been too long...I’m sorry it’s my fault 

I’m so sorry hun-ah...

you’re not alone....you always have me hun-ah ..

Please don’t cry like this..

I missed you more than you could imagine”

They were a sobbing mess, holding each other tightly...None of them wanting to let go.None of them saying anything for a while ,they just let out their emotions through their tears..

“You know...you look ugly when you cry..” wiping his tears Sehun looks up to see Tao’s face.Tao’s face was all scrunched up and he did look ugly when he cried..Sehun giggled softly.His face messy will all those tears.

“Ahh what??.....I look handsome in everything I do okay...you should see yourself right now”, tao tries to fight back but he’s too amazed by sehun, who was looking up, pouting a little, his little nose all red and eyes puffy with all the crying but still sparkling like diamonds, his pale white skin now turning pink and tao tries to figure out if sehun was blushing or was it just because of all the crying.

“Stop looking at me like that...” feeling embarrassed sehun huffs at tao..he had been a crying mess, maybe he even looked ugly but the way tao was just staring at him, with a soft smile made sehun weak in his knees and he was blushing like a sixteen year old.

It was a beautiful sight for tao,sehun trying to hide his embarrassment.Sehun was always perfect in tao’s eyes.Tao was grinning, showing his teeth and he gives sehun a little kiss in his forehead “you’re still” and then his nose “so beautiful” and then his left cheek “l can just look” and his right cheek “at you for eternity”

“Oh god ....You’re so cheesy...”

Sehun loves it, butterflies in his stomach but he has to be a little brat.

And tao also knows.“You love it..”

“Yeah...yeah..whatever makes you sleep peacefully at night..” sehun snorts and pulls his tongue out to tease tao, breaking away from their hug and lying down on the rocks, resting his head on his elbow as a pillow.He feels at peace now..

Tao just throws his hand in the air, laughing his high pitched laugh at sehun’s remark.Tao also lies down besides him, facing sehun..Sehun looks so mesmerising under the night sky, his eyes closed, feeling the soft breeze under his skin..Tao takes a deep breath, all this feels like a dream, sehun was lying beside him ,his pale face shining under the moonlight, his eyes swollen but still so beautiful how his eyelashes rested on his skin , his soft pink lips glistening under the stars, his brown hair softly blown by the breeze, some strands dancing in his forehead.Tao was hypnotised by the sight in front of him, he didn’t realise when he reached out to gently brush the hair falling on sehun’s forehead.

Sehun turns to face Tao as he felt Tao’s fingers slightly brush against his forehead, arching his eyebrows as if waiting for tao to say something, who had his gaze fixed on sehun.

“You’re just so— tao lets out a small sigh before he can finish his own sentence..He leans forward pressing his lips on sehun’s, pulling him close.Sehun just lets him and closes his eyes.Tao puts his hands around sehun’s neck as he caresses the soft skin and slowly threading through sehun’s hair.It so soft, his lips, his hair, his skin, tao counts in his head as he nibbles on sehun’s lips before breaking away from the kiss but none of them move, their foreheads pressed together..

“Fuck..hun-ah..this..I missed you” tao literally breathes words, dragging his thumb against Sehun’s lower lips before closing the gap again.

The second kiss feels urgent, desperate even..Tao softly licks sehun’s lips as sehun presses himself closer, his hands around Tao’s waist clutching on his tshirt.Sehun feels how much he wants this,needs this.Tao takes sehun’s bottom lips between his teeth and pulls it softly, causing sehun to moan and open his mouth to allow Tao’s tongue to meet his own.Tao moans into sehun as their tongues curl up together. Tao explores sehun’s warm cavern, bitting his lower lip and then his upper lip, swirling his tongue around.Sehun was so aware of the effect Tao had on him, tao always knew what sehun loved.Sehun now trails his hand inside Tao’s tshirt wanting to feel Tao’s warmth,digging his nails..I can keep on kissing you forever, both were thinking in their respective heads and they kept kissing for a while not wanting break apart..They missed each other’s touch and have been living without it for too long, both of them wanted to savour this moment..Tao tenderly kisses sehun on his lips once more before pulling back but their foreheads still pressed together, breath shallow and panting.It feels perfect and sehun finally opens his eyes, tao already staring directly into his soul..They stay like that for a while foreheads pressed and their eyes saying thousands of unsaid words.They could see a grin forming in each other’s lips and both of them just....suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, all high pitched and girly..

“How long has it been??” Sehun asks trying to control himself, hands clutching into his stomach .

Tao lies back down pulling sehun into his arms.

“Five years and six months” tao whispers in sehun’s hair.

There they were,lying under the stars and the moon.Sehun resting his head on Tao’s chest, playing with the locket that hung on Tao’s necklace..Tao caressing sehun’s hair, taking in sehun's scent deeply so it would be engraved into his soul..Tao silently and intently listening to sehun talking about the beautiful stars and the moon above them.It felt like the moon was brighter today, the stars radiating extra warmth than usual.How sehun loved the mystery of the nightsky and how he felt like he came back home after all these years.This place and in Tao's arms sehun truly felt like he was home.

It was amazing how they were in the spot few years back , discussing about their future and how they are now in the same place talking about their past and the stars and the moon..

Sehun kept rambling about everything his life during these past years, EXO ,his family,concerts, vivi, Monsieur. and how he felt like he had to grow up suddenly.Tao just nodding slowly at eveything sehun had to say,thinking about how he missed sehun as he rambled about little things, how sehun was still the same, and he could listen to sehun all his life.Sehun was like a curious baby who was asking million questions to Tao about his life.Tao kept his answers short, smiling softly and patting sehun’s back.He was hiding a little thought that kept bugging him.

“I have to-“ sehun tries to say something.

“I know.....just five more minutes”, tao says before pulling sehun closer and letting out a heavy sigh.Dawn was breaking and they knew it was time for them to leave.Sehun had to perform today.Tao knows he couldn’t keep him any longer, his own schedule lined up for the day.Image to protect and rules to follow..remember ??He reminds himself..

They remain in silence for five minutes..They didn’t have to say anything, both of them knew what the other felt.They didnt need to make promises..They both knew somewhere in their hearts, when sehun decided to text tao and when Tao decided to come, that this would be just it, just for today.But maybe they were thinking or hoping for more.Sehun had noted how tao did not say anything earlier, when sehun said he had to meet Tao just once.Maybe he hoped for tao would say something, something along the lines of “No it wouldn’t be just once”.But tao didn’t say it,did he??Maybe sehun was getting ahead of himself wanting for more.On the other hand, tao was spiraling on his own thoughts.Should he try to say something??Does this change anything??They were together the whole night, wrapped in each other’s arms??They meant everything they said but sehun also said, he had to meet Tao just once.JUST ONCE tao kept repeating these words in his head and decides not to talk about it.It was already like a dream come true for both of them.They really understood, and it would be fine even if tomorrow, they would be back to being strangers.They had the strength to go on..This was enough for now, they were at peace in each others arms.

“Let’s go now... hun-ah” Tao speaks softly getting himself and sehun up...Tao puts his hands behind his neck, fumbling with what seemed like his T-shirt.

Sehun just watches him in confusion and when he sees Tao’s hands stretched out ,with the necklace he’s been playing with the whole night, Sehun smiles happily and hops turning around, allowing Tao to put it on him..Tao hooks the necklace around sehun’s neck and softly plants a kiss, wrapping sehun around himself.One last hug he thinks..

They start walking towards Tao’s car ,fingers threaded into eachother’s , grip too tight than it has to be..Both of them knew exactly what was the other was thinking or so they thought, and it would just hurt to say it out loud.They just walk silently.Both of their asses wanted the same thing but neither of them would say it.JUST ONCE..Sehun and his Damned two words..

“I can walk...The hotel is not that far and it would be troublesome if someone saw us”

Sehun mumbles hoping tao didn’t hear him.

Tao just humms “mmm” and squeezes sehun’s hand twice before letting it go carefully..Feeling empty as soon as he lets go.

Sehun was slipping away from his fingers..Even if they understood eachother that didn't mean it wouldn’t hurt..it hurt all the same, the first time they said their goodbyes and now, It will always hurt to be apart.

Sehun stops to face Tao and cups his face, flashing him the brightest smile as he could in that moment.

“I have to go now....you takecare of yourself tao.”

“you should take care of yourself too hun-ah ..now go or you’ll be late”...tao tries to smile as widely as he can holding back his tears.His heart heavy again.

And just like that, tao stands there as he watches sehun leave before his eyes.His heart hammering in his throat ,he wants to call him back..Hug him just one last time but he knows it would never be enough.One last hug , one last kiss it never works.His eyes heavy with unshed tears.Don’t go sehun, please.Words refuse to come out.Maybe this was how sehun felt, when he left years ago.It was breaking his heart, tears running down his cheek but once again he felt helpless, like there’s nothing he could do.He was about to slump down clutching his heart when he sees sehun running towards him.His vision blurry from the tears.Tao rubs his eyes, he might be imagining things now..But no, it was actually sehun with tears in his own cheek, running towards his Tao.

Sehun just presses himself to Tao, hugging him tightly..And Tao just lifts sehun off of his feet swirling him around, again and again.

“Stop taoooo...stop...pleasee stop” sehun shouting cheerfully, giggling and wiping his tears as he lands on his feet, looking fondly at Tao, he looked so delicate, like he would break any moment.

Tao lowers his gaze....”Why...you came— “ before tao could complete his sentence, Sehun presses his lips against Tao’s, pulling his chin up, Tao closes his eyes, clutching hard to sehun’s waist, as sehun kisses him deeply..They break away from the kiss slowly, carefully, their lips still on eachother, feeling eachother’s soft breath, hands still on each other feeling the warmth, warmth that touched their soul.Sehun then kisses Tao’s forehead, taking a long deep breath, taking in Tao’s scent, lingering there for a moment, a moment longer, staying still as if the time had stopped for them.The moment they finally realised, this time their goodbye wouldnt last long as their previous one.They both knew they were still in time, still how they were five years and six months ago.

Sehun whispers “It will always be you” before running away from tao, this time laughing his loud ridiculous laugh that always made tao smile.

“It will always be you” Tao says to the empty space before him as he sees sehun disappear around the corner.

**Author's Note:**

> Yayy that was it guys..So do you they called each other after that???
> 
> I hope you had a good read..I enjoyed so much writing this..I wanted to make it beautiful but Iam not sure if I succeeded.I felt like I forgot how to write in English huhu.I would really appreciate if you let me know if you liked it or what can do to improve.xoxo


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